Tali - Treason part 5

Rush into the next room. There are quite a few Geth in front of you, but they are on the other side of an impenetrable glass shield. This stops them from witnessing your advance, even if you shoot at the window in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break it. To initiate hostilities, walk around either side of the glass barrier and begin shooting. Then, let the enemies pour toward you, stationing characters on both ends of the glass, so that you're never flanked. As usual, the Geth Hunters will be a problem here, but your biggest issue will come in the form of Geth Prime, a heavily-shielded, barrier-toting enemy that you'll want to do away with as soon as you can. When all's quiet, you can then grab the ship model off of the table near the door, and examine the laptop adjacent to it for credits as well. Naturally, it's the computer console at the top end of the room that the Geth were so interested in that you'll want to check out, though.

Upon examining the computer, you'll find what you came here to find, but you're not going to like it. The computer monitor will eventually end up showing Tali's now-deceased father, some time before he was killed by the Geth. The scientists he was working with were all privy to the knowledge that Tali was sending Geth parts, but it was what they were doing with them that intrigues Tali. Indeed, the want to recapture their homeworld from the Geth made these scientists do some crazy stuff (Tali's father mentions a promise he made to her, one that Tali mentioned earlier, about having a house on the homeworld). But the scientists went too far with the Geth technology, reawakening it in an attempt to utilize it. When one of the scientists recommends informing the admiralty about what they were doing, Tali's father turns her down. That was a fatal decision, and now Tali's father looks like the bad guy. After the conversation, Tali insists that this is to never come to light, but Shepard won't have any of it. The trial must go on, and this new information must come to light.

After the conversation on the Alarei with Tali, you'll find yourself back on your previous ship. You'll overhear chatter from the room nearby; seems the Admirals have gotten antsy. They think you and Tali have died, and thus are rendering judgment in your stead. But when you show up, they realize that's not the case at all. Now, depending on how your character has been playing through the game so far, this trial can go any number of ways. There are neutral comments that can be made to sort of beat around the bush, but Paragons and Renegades alike should have specialized options that will allow Tali to be exonerated, while not giving up the secret she now holds about this all being her father's fault. Following the end of the trial, you're then free to leave the ship at will, though you may want to make the rounds, speaking to the admirals and your old sniper friend before heading on your way.

When you return to the Normandy, which will happen automatically following the trial (you can end the quest at-will via an on-screen prompt thereafter), you can talk to Tali back in her normal spot, on the fourth floor of the ship, in the engineering wing. Though you don't have to, it's a nice way to wrap up Tali's individual storyline. You can speak with her a bit about how she feels about everything that went down. She seems to be dealing with things well, and is infinitely thankful to Shepard for intervening on her behalf. She even lets Shepard know that rumors are swirling about her replacing her father on the Quarian ruling council. Go Tali!